This statement was prepared for the public meeting on “Beyond Kobanê – Behind the revolution in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan)”, which was held at Victorian Trades Hall on Wednesday 3 December by Australians for Kurdistan. Most of it was read at the meeting, but due to time constraints, the latter part was curtailed. The parts in italics were not able to be read. There has been minor editing for publication. read full story / add a comment

The civil war precipitated this year by a revanchist, imperialist Russia in the eastern Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk - ironically once part of the Makhnovist revolutionary heartland - and the mobilisation there of openly neo-fascist armed forces has raised the critical question of how the Ukrainian anarchist synthesist and platformist formations have responded to the crisis. [Italiano] read full story / add a comment

Today, the gangs that the states created for their interests are running away though the ruins they are leaving behind in Kobanê. While the victory of resistance is echoing in the free streets of Kobanê, the

conviction of freedom is rising above the same ruins in the streets. Like comrade Durutti says, "We are not in the least afraid of ruins". Today and tomorrow, in Kobanê and many other places, we know that a new life is being created among the ruins. [Italiano]

The”normalization” of diplomatic relations between the governments of the USA and Cuba should help eliminate many antiquated impediments imposed by these very same governments upon basic human bonds in both countries. [Castellano]

This statement was prepared for the public meeting on “Beyond Kobanê – Behind the revolution in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan)”, which was held at Victorian Trades Hall on Wednesday 3 December by Australians for Kurdistan. Most of it was read at the meeting, but due to time constraints, the latter part was curtailed. The parts in italics were not able to be read. There has been minor editing for publication.

The devastating civil war that has followed the popular uprising in Syria which began in March 2011 has to an extent drowned out the legitimate grievances of the civil-protest movement against Assad and Ba'athism. This war has been greatly inflamed by support by the U.S. and Israel along with the reactionary Gulf monarchies for anti-Assad rebels on the one hand, and aid provided to the regime by Iran and Russia on the other. In addition, clearly, this geopolitical dynamic has driven the rise of ISIS/Islamic State, and it informs the new war being waged by the NATO-Arab monarch “coalition.” In contrast to the neoliberal authoritarianism of Assad and the reactionary fanaticism of ISIS and associated rebel-groupings, though, the Kurds of northeastern Syria (Rojava) are working to institute a more or less anti-authoritarian society. Hope may be found in this social model, as in the direct action of the uprising.

The”normalization” of diplomatic relations between the governments of the USA and Cuba should help eliminate many antiquated impediments imposed by these very same governments upon basic human bonds in both countries. [Castellano]

This statement was prepared for the public meeting on “Beyond Kobanê – Behind the revolution in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan)”, which was held at Victorian Trades Hall on Wednesday 3 December by Australians for Kurdistan. Most of it was read at the meeting, but due to time constraints, the latter part was curtailed. The parts in italics were not able to be read. There has been minor editing for publication.